December 2009

December 30, 2009

I spotted this great dessert recipe that was almost perfect: Rasbperry Almond Parfait. Mmmmmmmm. A sublime way to finish a meal with some great protein, fat, a high nutrient fruit carb. And it's only 5 minutes. If you have a dairy intolerance, this recipe is begging for coconut milk!! So here's the original recipe with my version in bold:

Optional: grated dark chocolate (yum! Tiny bit will go a long way. Be sure to get dark and not milk chocolate)

Directions:
Blend yogurt, honey and almond extract in a small mixing bowl with a whisk until the honey is incorporated and the mixture is smooth.
Divide the yogurt mixture into two dessert dishes. Place the raspberries in one layer on top and garnish with the sliced almonds and, if desired, dark chocolate.

Serves 2

Healthy Cooking Tip:
Taste the yogurt mixture for sweetness. You may want more honey depending on the brand of yogurt. (If you stick with yoghurt, make sure you get greek yoghurt.)

Reduce the Calorie Tip: Stick with the greek yoghurt. You'll halve the calories.

December 26, 2009

The Mayo Clinic is one of the oldest and most respected medical institutions in the United States. The clinic itself is notable because it pays doctors on a fixed salary, which allows doctors to spend more time with patients. This is important because many doctors have to see patients quickly in order to stay in business. The practices of The Mayo Clinic are widely followed, and they have developed a powerful brand over the last century.

According to The Mayo Clinic, in the last couple decades people have sold or promoted diet plans that have no connection to the clinic. If you have read about a diet that promotes cabbage soup, grapefruit, bacon or meat it is likely that there is no relation to the actual Mayo Clinic.

In response to this, the Mayo Clinic has just published a new book (January 2010 is the publication date) whose goal is to refute these "bogus diets" and present a diet and weight loss plan that does represent the philosophy and work of the organization. The book sets out to provide guidance that "is not a fad" and promotes "good health" and a "healthy lifestyle." We were sent a copy of the book in advance of the publication, and were encouraged by what we read. This review also contains an excerpt from the book which is printed at the bottom of this page (with permission from the publisher.)

The Most Important Part Of The New Mayo Clinic Diet: The "Healthy Weight Pyramid"

Throughout the book and the journal there appears a "Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid." Our first read of the pyramid was that it looked a lot like the one that Dr. Joel Fuhrman first advocated in his book "Eat To Live" in 2003.

And this is important because his pyramid represented a radical departure from all conventional wisdom. Americans in particular eat a diet extremely high in grains, meat and dairy, and low in vegetables. The new Mayo Clinic Pyramid has at its base fruits and vegetables. Their advice is to "follow the general pattern of the pyramid and you'll be fine."

So we reached out to Dr. Fuhrman to get his take on the new Mayo Clinic pyramid. His main take was that it is "a big step in the right direction." But he implored us to outline some important distinctions before drawing too close a comparison.

From our perspective, The Mayo Clinic in this book is advocating an approach to general health, while Dr. Fuhrman uses nutrition as a big component in helping to treat and reverse diseases. (His new deal with Whole Foods is an important validation of his work). He continually asks us to be as precise as possible when we categorize his work. Which we do.

In his view "interpretation of the worlds nutritional literature can be a life or death matter." Here is how he describes the differences between the two pyramids:

"1. They have nuts labeled (with a photo) as fats, not differentiating oil and saturated fats (with their negative health effects) different from nuts/seeds with dramatically protective effects against serious disease. And they have seeds/nuts placed above dairy and animal products, which they recommended 3 – 7 servings a day. Diary or cheese supply the major load of saturated fats in the American diet and nuts and seeds are the foods that demonstrate the most dramatic protection against sudden cardiac death of any food on the dietary landscape in the largest and most respected studies.

2. They placed one giant label on carbohydrate, essentially equating the dramatic lifespan enhancing properties and weight loss benefits of beans, mixed in right along with white potato and bagels and pasta.

4. Lumping all carbohydrates together, all proteins in another and then fats in another, at different levels is just wrong. The macronutrient type is not a measurement of nutritional quality or weight loss potential. Obviously those are not the measurements that determine health. Overall, this confuses people even more, reinforcing the problem that created this epidemic of disease to begin with. Most foods are a mixture of fat/carb/and protein, so their classification is inaccurate, but it is the nutritional quality of the food not whether one macronutrient predominates that is the main issue. Their pyramid just restates the Standard American diet with the caveat of eating some more fruits and vegetables. Not bad, and a step in the right direction, but certainly very far from ideal.

Overall, I think comparing their pyramid to the one in Eat To Live undervalues the careful science used in the construction of the Eat To Live pyramid and kind of credits their pyramid with more value than it deserves. To equate or say there are only subtle differences between their “more conventional and socially acceptable” pyramid, with the Eat To Live (ideal nutrition) pyramid that maximizes results, lifespan and reverse disease is not quite fair and is distracts from the real value there.

My diet-style emphasizes 5 basic food classes that should be eaten even for those just taking baby steps into healthier eating just getting their feet wet. These specific food classes should occupy a larger percent of the dietary pie chart.

1. At least one large salad of raw vegetables every day

2. At least 4 pieces of fresh fruit a day

3. At least 1 cup of beans a day, with a one cup goal

4. At least 1 ounce of seeds/nuts a day

5. A large double size portion of steamed green vegetables a day.

In other words, the beans and seeds/nuts and raw veggies and cooked veggies, are all important components of a healthy diet. The basic volume of healthy food to shoot for gives some micronutrients quality for the appetite drive to even approximate normalcy."

I think this is an interesting and very important debate, and we will definitely publish any response from the Mayo Clinic right here.

The Importance Of Daily Journaling

The Mayo Clinic Diet includes a companion journal that is really well done. It is similar to the PEERtrainer online log format. When you open up their journal it leads with your goal and your notes. This is important because there is tremendous benefit to bringing daily focus to your goals and thoughts. If you write down that you are going to eat a certain thing or exercise a certain way, your odds of doing that go way up. Journaling works, period. It is what we built PEERtrainer around.

Their journal allows you to write down as much of what you want. Each log helpfully includes a daily motivation/weight loss tip, which is something that we have observed is very helpful to keep people on track. You will see thoughout The Mayo Clinic Diet a very strong focus on reinforcing new behaviors and eliminating old ones.

If you are one of those people who does not like to log into a website like PEERtrainer each day, you will find their journal format very helpful. It is probably the best portable journal out there.

"Finding Your Inner Motivation"

The Mayo Clinic Diet itself leads off on page 13 in the same way the PEERtrainer Tip Of The Day does: by telling you to ask yourself "Why do I want to lose weight?" This is important and sometimes harder than it seems. You have to have a really good reason to do anything. It is also an indicator that the entire book is on the right track, especially for people who are just starting out on the weight loss path or who are refugees from a failed weight loss plan.

The Importance Of Accountability and Readiness

The Mayo Clinic Diet highlights the importance of involving others in helping increase your odds of losing weight. They suggest enlisting friends, family and co-workers. If you truly have supportive friends and family then that is good advice. But you have to be careful. If you think about it, there is a reason people flock to in person Weight Watchers meetings, and join online support groups at places like PEERtrainer. Often times the best support is anonymous support. Nobody to judge you, sabotage you or guilt you into getting off track.

The Mayo Clinic Diet also highlights the importance of readiness and includes an eight question quiz to determine if you are ready to lose weight. We have observed these kinds of assessments (click here for the PEERtrainer online Weight Loss Readiness assessment) are helpful, and are a useful tool to get you to ask yourself some tough questions. So often at PEERtrainer we see people leave a program and give us very honest feedback that they "just were not ready."

Good Focus On Breaking Habits

The Mayo Clinic Diet spends a lot of time focusing on breaking bad habits and creating new good ones. This is important because sometimes the smallest changes to negative patterns can help trigger the development of new ones. The hard part about bad habits is that they often require tremendous personal strength to change. It is one thing to hear that you should not watch TV while you eat, eat less sugar, only snack on fruits and vegetables, cut down on meat and dairy. It is another to put these into practice.

One of the best things about The Mayo Clinic Diet is that they don't just talk about these things and move on. Throughout the book they keep coming back to your behaviors, to identifying exactly how you can change them with specific suggestions.

Conclusion

The book is filled with solid advice. The only critique we have is that some of the issues they talk about can take a lot of work in practice, and the advice is often best viewed as a good starting point. The reality is that we often need all the help we can get. The most practical suggestion that we have is that if you get this book, make sure to use the journal they provide. Even if you only journal for two weeks, you are going to have an important conversation with yourself. Never doubt the power of writing down your thoughts.

If you are a book person and are starting out on your weight loss path you will find this book helpful. It is an excellent "Weight Loss 101" tool.

The Mayo Clinic Diet Journal (You Can Purchase Separately)

Book Excerpt:

Healthy Cooking

Healthy cooking doesn't mean you have to become a gourmet chef or invest in special cookware. Simply use standard cooking methods to prepare foods in healthy ways. You can also adapt familiar recipes by substituting other ingredients for fat, sugar and salt.

Use these methods

These methods best capture the flavor and retain the nutrients in your food without adding too much fat or salt.

• Baking. Besides breads and desserts, you can bake seafood, poultry, lean meat, and vegetable and fruit pieces of the same size. Place food in a pan or dish (covered or uncovered) and bake. You may need to baste the food with broth, low-fat marinade or juice to keep the food from drying out.

• Braising. Braising involves browning the meat or poultry first in a pan on top of the stove, and then slowly cooking it covered with a small amount of liquid, such as water or broth. In some recipes, the cooking liquid is used afterward to form a flavorful, nutrient-rich sauce.

• Grilling and broiling. Both grilling and broiling expose fairly thin pieces of food to direct heat and allow fat to drip away from the food. If you're grilling outdoors, place smaller items, such as chopped vegetables, in a long-handled grill basket or on foil to prevent pieces from slipping through the rack. To broil indoors place food on a broiler rack below a heat element.

• Poaching. To poach foods, in a covered pan gently simmer ingredients in water or a flavorful liquid, such as broth, vinegar or juice, until cooked through and tender. For stove-top poaching, choose an appropriate-sized covered pan and use a minimum amount of liquid.

• Roasting. Roasting uses an oven's dry heat at high temperatures to cook the food on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan. For poultry, seafood and meat, place a rack inside the roasting pan so that the fat can drip away during cooking.

• Sautéing. Sautéing quickly cooks small or thin pieces of food. If you choose a good-quality nonstick pan, you can cook food without using fat. Depending on the recipe, use low-sodium broth, cooking spray, water or wine in place of oil or butter.

• Steaming. One of the simplest cooking techniques to master is steaming food in a perforated basket suspended above simmering liquid. If you use a flavorful liquid or add herbs to the water, you'll flavor the food as it cooks.

• Stir-frying. Stir-frying quickly cooks small, uniform-sized pieces of food while they're rapidly stirred in a wok or large nonstick frying pan. You need only a small amount of oil or cooking spray for this cooking method.

Find new ways to add flavor

Instead of salt or butter, you can enhance foods with a variety of herbs, spices and low-fat condiments. Be creative.

To bring out the sweetness in baked goods, use a bit more vanilla, cinnamon or nutmeg.

Adapting recipes

If the recipe calls for:

Butter

Margarine

Shortening

Oil

For sandwiches, substitute tomato slices, catsup or mustard.
For stove-top cooking, sauté food in broth or small amounts of healthy oil like olive, canola or peanut or use non-stick spray.
In marinades, substitute diluted fruit juice, wine, or balsamic vinegar.
In cakes or bars, replace half the fat or oil with the same amount of applesauce, prune puree or commercial fat substitute.
To avoid dense, soggy or flat baked goods, don't substitute oil for butter or shortening, or substitute diet, whipped or tub-style margarine for regular margarine.

Meat:

Keep it lean. In soup, chili or stir-fry, replace most of the meat with beans or vegetables. As an entrée, keep it to no more than the size of a deck of cards -- load up on vegetables.

Fat-free, low-fat or light varieties in dips, spreads, salad dressings and toppings. Fat-free, low-fat and light varieties do not work well for baking.

Sugar:

In most baked goods, you can reduce the amount of sugar by one-half without affecting texture or taste, but use no less than 1/4 cup of sugar for every cup of flour to keep items moist.

White flour:

Replace half or more of white flour with whole grain pastry or regular flour.

Salt:

Use herbs (1 tbsp. fresh = 1 tsp. dried = 1/4 tsp. powder). Add towards the end of cooking and use sparingly -- you can always add more.
Salt is required when baking yest-leavened items. Otherwise you may reduce salt by half in cookies and bars. Not needed when boiling pasta.

The above is an excerpt from the book The Mayo Clinic Diet: Eat well. Enjoy life. Lose weight., by the weight-loss experts at Mayo Clinic and Donald Hensrud, M.D., M.P.H. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Donald Hensrud, M.D., M.P.H., is chair of the Division of Preventive, Occupational, and Aerospace Medicine and a consultant in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. He is also an associate professor of preventive medicine and nutrition at the College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic. A specialist in nutrition and weight management, Dr. Hensrud advises individuals on how to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. He conducts research in weight management, and he writes and lectures widely on nutrition-related topics. He helped publish two award-winning Mayo Clinic cookbooks.

About Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy that the needs of the patient come first. Over 3,600 physicians and scientists and 50,000 allied staff work at Mayo, which has sites in Rochester, Minn.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, Mayo Clinic treats more than 500,000 patients a year.

For more than 100 years, millions of people from all walks of life have found answers at Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic works with many insurance companies, does not require a physician referral in most cases and is an in-network provider for millions of people.

December 21, 2009

I was interviewed by a newspaper reporter about the PEERtrainer Point Of No Return program last week, and part of the conversation brought focus to something that we have been meaning to start a discussion about.

The reporter was digging into our "diet fusion" approach, and during this part of the conversation I started going into what we had learned from Stu Mittleman and how we were applying it to the coaching program. Our observation is that when someone is able to run across the country or be able to run 100 miles in a day, we want to know how that person is able to do this. A few questions come to mind:

1) What are they putting in their body to fuel this kind of performance?

2) What are putting in their mind in terms of how they explain the world to themselves?

3) Most importantly, what are they doing differently that someone who simply wants more energy to get through the day can learn from?

We have written extensively about Stu's book "Slow Burn", and many of you have picked up a copy. In the book he talks about his philosophy of running, which very simply is the opposite of the dominant fitness philosophy/culture in this country of no pain no gain. This philosophy has resonated with many in the PEERtrainer community.

He is a big advocate of eating a diet high in green vegetables, vegetable soups, fish that is high in omega-3 like fresh salmon. He recommends dramatically reducing meat, bread and dairy. (Which is something we hear with increasing regularity.)

His key point is that as you make these adjustments of increasing greens, and reducing meat, bread, dairy and sugar you will start to increase your energy levels. He is also a big advocate of powdered greens. I'm not sure if this is in his book or not but when he ran across the country, he ran out of energy early on, and was able to keep going by adding intense amounts of powdered greens to his diet.

So we have been open to this idea, and casually looking around at the different products out there.

Anyway, long story short is that we were in Whole Foods recently and picked up a couple packets of a powdered greens mix that was on the shelf. The person at the store explained that the powder is "raw" which means there are enzymes intact. We are not huge into the whole raw foods thing, but there are people who are very adamant about the power of raw foods. (btw I will be interviewing former model Carol Alt next month, and I know she is big into raw foods. She is 50 and gorgeous so I will keep a very open mind!)

Who knows the exact truth to the power of raw foods but there is probably some element of benefit to that. The person at Whole Foods also mentioned that a serving of powdered greens contains a huge amount of greens. This is very important because we know from Dr Joel Fuhrman about the massive health benefits of greens.

But the problem is that it takes time and money to get greens in your diet. The packet that we got off the shelf was $1.49. And the company claims that each packet contains 5-7 servings of fruits and vegetables. The company that took up most of the shelf space in this category is called "Amazing Grass."

This is important because there are many companies making these products. Our observation is that for some reason Amazing Grass made it into Whole Foods and is obviously in a market leadership position. There are all sorts of potential health benefits, but we will start with the observation that when we consumed the packet mixed with water, we got a certain sense of well being. Sort of the opposite of drinking a cup of coffee.

Anyway, you can find these products at any Whole Foods I think, and probably at any health store, and also right on Amazon. We have also signed up for their affiliate program, which allows us to make some money and usually allows you guys to get a discount for buying directly from them. That is how those deals work ideally.

We know there is some interest in this product category already on PEERtrainer, people had been asking about the brand because we had logged the drink. If you do check out this product let us know. And if there are others you see let us know.

This could be a very good way of easily increasing the greens and micronutrients in your diet. And maybe getting some more energy.Here are some links to different products from Amazing Grass and we will also contact the company to see what sorts of coupons we can get for you.

This link takes you to their main website, and you can see all the products they sell. They sell meal bars and I have also seen these at Whole Foods.

This is a link to the version we tried. (Amazon has a better price than the company's own website right now) We tried another non flavored one and we really did not like it. This berry version is a little sweet and tastes good. The non flavored one was a little hard to get down.

December 11, 2009

We are having a very interesting conversation with someone on PEERtrainer right now, and in particular digging and digging into a shift this person had to a much more positive place. After being mired in a place where nothing was possible. She had told us that "I had convinced myself I would never reach my goals." Using a lot of things on our site, (and some other tools) she had really turned things around.

This subject interests us in particular because anyone can lose a few pounds. But very few people radically change their mindset, to the point where they rethink every aspect of their lives. Because of our role in this process, we wanted to know as much detail of the story as possible. And hopefully share that story with others.

Obviously as a business, we need to promote ourselves. Something that we sometimes don't focus on as much as we should. If you found out about PEERtrainer from a big magazine in the last couple years it is because they have reached out to us. For many companies, it is the other way around.

But we are working on several partnerships now to promote the site more, things that cross promote or somehow tie in. Whether we are working with a magazine or another company, the one thing we are always asked for are stories. And stories are much more interesting than testimonials. With a testimonial someone will say "that" something is great. A story you get to hear "why" something is great.

And stories are a great way of credibly communicating something, because they are impossible to fake. People can sense b.s. a mile away. This woman we were talking to had provided a very big testimonial/story for us, very compelling, real and hopefully relatable.

But one thing she really honed in on was how much her mindset about her ability to lose weight had changed. She had written, "I am a believer in what you are doing because I used to be the most negative person."

So we wrote back to her, and asked this question:

"You mention that you had a very negative mindset prior to digging into PEERtrainer and some other tools. What really helped you get over that? You don’t have to really sell our stuff here btw- just curious how that process happened for you."

This was her response:

"What helped me get over my negative mindset? I guess a lot of different things but some of those audio calls are very powerful and make you ask yourself tough questions. A lot of people who let themselves get overweight sometimes have big issues to conquer. Or people say they are fine but are in denial. My highest weight was 200. That is quite a bit for someone who is 5'2. I always wondered how I could let myself get that way. When I was in my 20's I did exercise a lot but I also drank a lot of booze and ate very high fatty high carb foods. I also drank a ton of soda!! I stayed a size 3 to 5 in spite of doing all that. Getting older is so unkind to your body!

Anyway I guess I'm getting off the subject of why my negative mindset is getting better. I think maybe since I am in my forties I am questioning myself a lot more. I am tired of dwelling in the past. I think I mentioned in an email before about my childhood. We were very poor and my mom was single trying to raise 4 kids. So it wasn't like living at the Beaver house. My mom turned to alcohol to cope, so a lot of the time I along with my brothers learned how to take care of ourselves.

I think a lot of what I get online from your site has really helped me. But I read an article not to long ago from Joshua that said no matter how many forums you join or how many self help books you read blah blah blah, the only thing that is going to help you is you. So I had to make a decision if I was going to fake being happy the rest of my life or figure out a way to really be happy. I really want to do the second one.

The point I am trying to make is that I want to accept all I tell my son and other people for myself!! I have special talents and I need to just discover what they are and put myself out there more. I know I love being active and I love to run! So I am going to enter races again. I really want to go back to school also. I could get a certificate in personal training or get a degree as an exercise specialist. I think the degree entails some training that I already have. I am a respiratory therapist and I think it would be great maybe to help the sick people get in better shape and maybe have a better quality of life. I don't know I just have so much stuff spinning in my head but I know I want to try. I am tired of being scared and sulking in a corner and not putting myself out there.

So to sum it up it is I and I alone who has to make a decision (our emphasis) to want to better myself. I hope to make friends on PEERtrainer also. I am just starting to realize that is okay to get help sometimes. It is not my nature to ask for help. I only recently started really logging and being interactive with other people. I think it is so great how you guys interact with the members of PEERtrainer. Anyway I hope I have answered your question."

My one takeaway here is that we see this a lot. People struggle and struggle with something, for years. And then they just decide.

Here is part of what she had originally written, and it covers a good chunk of what we do:

"The Point of No Return program was a turning point for me. I was receiving the PEERtrainer tip of the day and I read several of Joshua Wayne's articles, but the Point of No Return program was icing on the cake. They go over so much information, ranging from having the right frame of mind for weight loss to the right type of foods to keep in your kitchen.

I think a big reason the Point of No Return Program is successful is that some very important concepts helpful to weight loss are repeated over and over. I have heard Jackie say that repetition is the mother of all skills, and I truly believe that to be true.

People are starving for some truth about how to lose weight and finally keep it off for good. Doctors are so quick to write prescriptions for diet pills or say you need to get some kind of weight loss surgery. A doctor prescribed me Meridia shortly after I had my son. Well I lost about 26 lbs but then I put the weight back on plus 10 additional pounds. The Biggest Loser trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels both agree that you need to get down to the nitty gritty of the issues that cause you to fail with your weight loss. Well most of us will never get to have one on one help with those famous trainers. But, it is very easy and affordable to sign up for the PEERtrainer Point of No Return program. Plus Jackie, Joshua, and Habib try their best to answer any questions you have. In fact they love doing that and they constantly request feedback.

PEERtrainer has even expanded on the emotional eating concept that is discussed in the Point of No Return program. I have listened to the calls on emotional eating and have learned so much more about this complex issue. PEERtrainer is constantly adding new audio calls that are so helpful. Knowledge is power and they definitely provide plenty of information to give you so much power to help you finally lose the weight and keep the weight from coming back on time and time again. I love having the access to the groups and teams where I can interact with other people.

It is nice to see a note from someone saying good job or I hope you have a better day if things aren't going your way. It is also very helpful to be able to log the food you eat and journal your thoughts and feelings. If you are feeling frustrated log onto PEERtrainer and jot down how you feel instead of reaching for that cake on the break room table.

If I had to rate myself from one to ten on how I feel I will do keeping the weight off, one being I don't feel I could, and ten being I most definitely feel I could, I would say I was a ten. After ten years of yo yo dieting and numerous failed attempts to lose the weight for good I have hit the jackpot with PEERtrainer. It is truly, truly a great web site."

December 05, 2009

In early 2007 Habib and I were approached by someone with one of the most interesting backgrounds we had ever come across. This gentleman had started and taken public a well known tech company in Silicon Valley.

After that he helped finance, build and take public a health insurance company. He later helped sell it for billions of dollars. On top of that, he had been an early investor in Whole Foods. All sorts of other interests as well. I think he almost completed a PhD in nuclear physics. Something crazy like that. Obviously there are very few people on the planet with that set of experiences.

And this gentleman had taken a strong interest in the work we were doing with PEERtrainer, and in particular was drawn to the preventive health aspects of the site. In his role in the health insurance company he was able to get very strong insight into the structural problems of the industry. The single biggest problem he saw was on the preventive side. When he saw what we were doing with PEERtrainer, he realized that in his eyes we were a preventive health company.

Of course we never set out to do that. We had started the site after I put together a virtual weight loss support group via email with friends after my first pregnancy. It worked really well, and we built the core PEERtrainer site from that experience.

Literally two years after launching, we had one of our users on the cover of People Magazine. Not just a little picture on the side, the whole cover. This user even went on Good Morning America to tell their story. (Which crashed our servers for an entire morning after I failed to impress upon Habib how many people actually watch that show). And that was around the time we met this person.

This gentleman saw what we were doing with the groups and teams and the community, and saw so much potential, so much more that we could do. His insight helped to trigger a deep exploration of what was possible to really help people in ways that they were not. (And why you will see us continually evolve what we bring to you).

One of the single biggest issues he saw was on the nutrition side, and he basically felt that the standard diet advice that people were getting was really wrong, and hurting people on many levels. "Killing people" was the actual phrase he used.

He introduced us to many interesting people, and gave us an insight into the key challenges of health care, which set us on the path to many of the things are now doing with these email programs, our coaching program, even our tone. We even met Vera Wang through this person at one event! ("Oh, hi Vera, nice to meet you.")

One of those many people was Dr. Joel Fuhrman, who at the time had written a book called "Eat To Live." Joel is good friends with Dr. Oz, who had helped promote his book early on. And Joel was working with two other gentleman on a new company to find ways of getting his ideas into the mainstream. We hit it off and began to bounce ideas off each other, and started a dialogue and partnership that continues today.

What is interesting to note is that during this time, Joel was a heretic in the medical community, in spite of the support of people like Dr. Oz. I think I have told this story before where the Chief Medical Officer of this health insurance company was in such utter disbelief about what Dr. Fuhrman was saying that he thought he had faked his medical credentials. The mainstream medical community was very resistant to anything other than drugs for treating illness. And this was only two years ago.

So this small team started the process, a real uphill battle to get into the mainstream. Their big vision was to move beyond the "diet book" thing, and develop software that gave people a roadmap to their own personal health. Something that in essence would serve as the ultimate motivation. Here is how Dr. Fuhrman described the software in a recent email to us. (he was very particular/insistent we got the language precise)

"The software evaluates a person's dietary insufficiencies and other disease-risk

factors, so a person's long-term health outcomes can be predicted and they

can be effectively motivated to make the necessary changes, to avoid those

risks and more effectively lose weight."

(In other words it motivates the crap out of you and then tells you what you need to eat to get your stuff together.)

So for the last couple years Joel's company (Eat Right America) has been working all sorts of potential deals. Talking to different parts of government, big corporations, political figures. They also started talking to Whole Foods, who took a strong interest.

More than anyone else.

We have no idea what the exact discussions sounded like, but yesterday morning, we got an email from them saying they had just signed a major deal where WF would be selling this product in all of their stores nationwide, as well as Dr. Fuhrman's books and DVDs and most interestingly, featuring Joel's food scoring system in the stores right on the shelves.

We are particularly pleased because we had started to alert people to this product in August of this year, and we have been seeing how people have responded to it. When Whole Foods comes along and gives this immense validation, we are psyched because we do get emails to the effect of "who on earth is this guy??"

Whole Foods is a store that our family relies on. We are not customers, so much as raving fans. The people at our local store know our kids names. (They are patient when we complain about stuff.)

It is so cool to see this connection, and so great to see this process where people start with an idea, and work and work to a successful completion. Later this month we are going to a nearby Whole Foods and watch the Eat Right America team train the local store on the "why" behind this product. We will take our Flip camera along and hopefully get some video shot that we can share with you.

We don't have a relationship with Whole Foods at all at a company level btw. But we think it is important to note the role that Whole Foods is playing to help change the diet and nutrition narrative. I hope this story provides some perspective on that.

And it is good business for them as well, because the net result of Dr. Fuhrman's work is that people end up buying more of the kind of stuff that Whole Food sells.

As part of our partnership with Joel and his team at Eat Right America, we have put together a package where you get this new program (plus all his other books and DVD's and guides) on a trial basis. We have been doing this since August, with great feedback. When you sign up for the trial you can do the software program right now, via a web browser. If you are looking to get a sense of the damage you might have done over the years, definitely check this out.

The main benefit we are seeing is that this product and package really gets people going in a way they were not before. The "Nutrition Prescription" as it is called is working incredibly well in conjunction with all the other things we are doing and offer on PEERtrainer. Our motto is "keep an open mind" so that you allow yourself to discover what is going to work for you. You will discover it...

December 04, 2009

Pureed PEERtrainer Energy Soup Recipe. This is the one. I created it because I wanted a way to get in tons of vegetables easily and I wanted it to taste great. It's the gift that keeps on giving. You make a salad and all that work gets eaten up in one sitting. You spend 45 minutes making this soup and it lasts for days. And you can freeze half.

People call me and write me almost every day and tell me that they lose weight when they add this soup to their diet. Here it is:

Ingredients you will need:

4 cups chicken stock broth(if you can, please get the organic stock without gluten and preservatives. Pacific organic makes a great one. If you are vegan, this is the only ingredient you need to change. Substitute Vegetable Broth).

crushed red pepper(anywhere from a teaspoon to a tablespoon or more, depending on your preference. I prefer a more than less)

handful (a palm full) of fresh cilantro (chopped)

Few shakes of salt

Place broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, carrots and bay leaves in a large stock pot with the chicken broth and the can of coconut milk. Turn on high until boil. Once it’s boiling, turn down to simmer for 18 – 20 minutes. (If you have questions about coconut milk and the saturated fat content, we have two blog posts that address this further down this page, featuring the input of Jonny Bowden who has a PhD in Nutrition.)

Slice onion into pieces (size and shape are not important) In separate sauce pan, drop in the olive oil and sautee the onion in a large skillet in the olive oil, until translucent and slightly soft and browned. You must care for the onions and be sure to not burn them. Do not go do something else in this part of the process. In a Cuisinart or other food blender, grind up the garlic and ginger and stir in ginger and garlic for less than a minute. Then place the mixture into the large stock pot of vegs and broth/coconut milk.

In same sauce pan that you sautéed the onions, place the juice of two limes, a handful of crushed red pepper (more or less depending on how hot you like things), and a handful of cilantro into a sauce pan and sautee at high for a few minutes. Pour into large stock pot.

Then with your Cuisinart smart stick, puree, puree until smooth. It should be a bit ‘thick” and this will help with your hunger and keep you satiated. The more you water it down, the less full you’ll feel. Add a few shakes of salt. Taste. Depending on taste, add a bit more lime, red pepper flakes, or cilantro as needed and puree.

This soup makes probably 10 servings and has about 2 points per serving. (Do not quote me on the weight watchers points/servings. This is only an estimation). If you are in weight loss mode, eat before you eat other foods. Suggested pairings:

Final Note: Unless you use a stick blender this will be a big pain and you won't be as likely to do it. If you do not own one, this is our Amazon link to buy one. Meaning we get a small commission if you click the link and buy something.

December 03, 2009

Thank you for just being a friend to those of us who feel so alone in our
efforts to lose weight. Sometimes, all we need is just a little simple,
yet effective advice.

Your post about plateus was one that I really needed to hear. Currently, I
am struggling greatly with the "mess ups." I always pick a day to begin
changing, yet the one time I mess up, I convince myself to start the same
day next week. Doing this has made me go months without ever changing. Any
more advice about how I can stop this attitude? Is is literally driving me
crazy, and causing me more harm than good!

Thanks,

Savanna

Hi Savanna, Thank you!

The single best way to change an attitude is to make a small change that
heads you into the right direction. Just commit to one good meal right
now. Just one - not the whole week, or the duration of your weight loss
goal, but to a great, on track lunch. The little "wins" that you start to
have make you excited and confident to have another win. And they start
to build from there. I was on a plateau for an entire year. And then
very slowly, I lost a little less than a pound a month, until I lost 10
more pounds. It took me 2 years to lose 10 pounds.

I would like to go a bit deeper though and ask if you have a burning
desire to lose the weight. What is the specific number you'd like to get
to and when do you want to do it? Do you have a date attached to it? Do
you really have the compelling reason, the burning desire and have you
made the decision that your current weight and lifestyle has become
intolerable?

December 02, 2009

This Article is an Answer to a Prayer!!! Literally. I keep a Prayer List
at the Front of My Things To Do Calendar. And, the Last Entry reads to
Teach Me Again Until I Learn It. (Regarding Emotional Upset over Other
People's Comments).

Awhile ago, you asked us to share about resources that we use to
ensure good nutrition. Our family nutrition bible is Dr. David Heber's"What Color Is Your Diet?"
.

Dr. Heber works at the Centre for Human
Nutrition in Los Angeles, and he was instrumental in creating the first food
pyramid in the 1960s. The premise of this book is that the skin colours of
fruits and vegetables are actually chemical indicators of the phytonutrients
contained in them. Even my 4- and 5-year-old can tell me what they've eaten
each day that was red, orange, yellow, green (light and dark), purple and
white. "Eat a rainbow," we say.

It's been a good way for us not only to
balance out the different nutrient groups in our diet each day, but also to
ensure that we get several servings of fruits & veggies every day.

One of the ways in which the PEERtrainer Tip Of The Day is most helpful is
when we introduce new information to you or show you how to look at a problem or
question in a different way.

We are lucky to be sent many new books in the health field (usually by
publicists), and as a result get a good visual on the trends. We were looking over one
new book in particular on fighting diabetes, and were struck by the following
comment that was part of the authors (a well respected cardiac surgeon) overall diet
advice:

"I recommend limiting or even omitting wheat products altogether. Wheat is
a very common allergen that in my experience is a major block to weight loss. In
addition, wheat and its proteins, gluten and gliadin, are highly inflammatory,
causing tissue damage and immune challenges and further contributing to weight struggles."

What On Earth Does This Have To Do With Red Wine and Alcohol??

The answer to that question is quite a bit. First of all, the idea that
wheat is a major block to weight loss is fairly new, at least as a mainstream idea. I
asked a doctor friend of mine and her comment was that this is "the emerging
mainstream consensus."

This is something we just keep seeing, the trend of doctors pointing
people away from wheat.

Now, the reality is that we drink a lot as a society. Even more so during the
holiday season. And I know from personal experience that alcohol is one
of the last things that someone wants to give up as part of their weight loss efforts.

In my community the moms know who I am and what I do, even though I have
tried as hard as I can to be low key. They ask me for weight loss advice all the
time, and constantly ask me questions.

When I tell them that I have not cut out red wine from my diet, I usually
see or hear a major sigh of relief. People do not want to give up the wine habit.
Period!

The thing is though that most alcohol other than wine has wheat in it. So
if you are a drinker, then you might want to consider a shift towards wine and away
from beer, as your drink of choice.

We also know that red wine in particular has beneficial properties. It is
just one of those things that you hear discussed all the time. I would also observe
that there is no such thing as a "wine belly." I will point out that most recommendations of red wine do limit it to one glass at a time, meaning, after more than one glass, your blood vessels start to constrict. The cited "benefits" are only for the one glass.

People do use the term "beer belly." Why is that? Anyway, I thought this
would be a helpful tip. Especially right now.

1) great leaders seek to understand before they seek to be
understood, or say, great leaders seek to server before they seek to be
served

This is the first step to build loyal and trust relationship between
leaders and the people they lead.

2) getting people to change a behavior is extremely difficult.

My personal experience proved it is 100 percent of truth. People's habit
has been developed from the environment where they have been growing up.
When talking about changing, it means let them adapt to some things new.
The inertia is strong... so understanding is the first step to unlock
the inertia through finding the causes.

3) Asking a lot of questions before giving any advice is generally
a great start

This is one of the approaches for understanding people in this way
people are exposing their inner minds by speaking out. The understanding
will underline personalized solutions, specific advices.

4) The negative stuff gets people's attention, but people tend to
go for positive goals. This is where motivational skill comes in

It's not the negative things that get people's attention, it's actually
the things that matter to them or affects their interests catch their
attention. Those things that catch people's attention are the right
momentum for good solutions.

5) You need to communicate to someone their potential, and do so
in a manner that they can really begin to visualize it. Getting someone
to believe in their potential, their worth and their voice in a clear
and sustainable manner is the height of leadership.

This is a good way to arise self-esteem within people.

6) People naturally resist forms of authority, but they are very
open to a peer to peer framework or one where they truly feel listened
to in a cooperative and communicative manner.

The power of influence is greater than the power of authority. Influence
makes people willing to do things from heart but authority pushes people
to do things that they are not willing to do.